#bcutweetup - a chance to meet fellow twitter users, from Birmingham and digital literacy was the hot topic

I took part in my first tweetup on Thursday. It was a short meeting (as I had to go to another one) but it was a great experience.

I was down in Birmingham to meet up with AMSU colleagues to work on their new web presence, but I'd arranged to arrive a bit earlier than needed and attend the Birmingham City University Tweetup. It was held in Cafe Direct at Birmingham City University Students' Union - thanks to Jaki Booth (@parboo).

For those not familiar with a Tweetup it's where users arrange via twitter to meet up at a set location, agree a rough agenda and then have discussions about those topics. All the while, the ideas, discussions, thoughts, arguments, are all documented by those attending via twitter - by simply posting up tweets and tagging them with the Tweetup indicator e.g. #bcutweetup.

If you run search.twitter for #bcutweetup you'll find some of the things suggested and discussed.

The focus of the discussion while I was there was around digital literacy. Digital literacy is teaching people about the web, the tools and the possibilities - opening their eyes not just to web 2.0 but starting with the basics like using websites to access information.

Those attending seemed committed to improving digital literacy at BCU and not just for students, but for staff as well. There seemed to be a trend that a lot of staff were more digitally literate, or willing to try, than students were.

It's an interesting concept, digital literacy. I think that web 2.0 has the potential to boost a students employability and also improve a staff member/lecturers ability to work or teach - by sharing more and entering into a dialogue with students that creates a shared knowledgebase.

I'm going to take the concept of digital literacy away and build some thoughts up on it, as I can see it becoming a hot topic over the next few years as broadband access is increased, super fast broadband becomes the norm and particularly in universities - if you're not digitally literate you are going to struggle.